The Nightgown
by Zosie
Summary: After thirty years of marriage, three kids who have flown the nest, it's Edward and Bella's time again.  A one shot of their anniversary.  Has been up before, you may have read it a year or so ago.


The Nightgown

A One Shot

Isabella held up the last piece of white heavily embroidered silky brocade lace and lay it on the cutting table. It was too small to make a frock or skirt, it was hardly suitable for outwear anyway.

She had purchased a small bolt of the fabric in a fire sale and so far her machinists had used pieces of the cloth to make beautiful, expensive white panties, suitable for any bride no matter how gorgeous she was.

But she felt it was a little wasted to use the entire bolt on underthings and she wanted to make something really special and unique. Something a special person would buy for their special someone.

She pulled out her much used patterns and flicked through them, settling on a template for a plain, A line, sleeveless nightgown design. It would be short, seeing the length of the fabric was limited, but it would be beautiful, there was no doubt. She carefully cut around the edges and held the two simple pieces up and smiled. This was going to be so beautiful.

Her best machinist Lauren, was yet to arrive at work so Bella set herself to work on the newest sewing machine, sewing the seams down each side and then binding the neckline and armholes with white satin casing.

The hem needed no sewing as the fabric itself was scalloped in semi circles featuring heavily embroidered roses.

The nightgown was a silvery white and Isabella held it high and wished she had the figure to wear something this exquisite herself, then laughed.

This was a nightgown for someone young and pretty, her figure as yet unchanged by time and pregnancies. Bella had been that person once, but thirty years of marriage and babies had changed all that and she accepted her fuller, rounded figure as the price one paid for motherhood. Years of hurriedly eaten quick meals hadn't helped either, she admitted.

She hung the nightgown on a dressmaker's dummy and set it up on a table for the staff to admire, and wondered which buyer would take it off her hands.

She wasn't quite ready to let it go , she had never been part of creating anything this captivating and she was loathe to let it out of her life just yet.

Surviving in the real world meant most of her creations were pretty but reasonably priced and could be run up quickly, and they were usually made in bright, lightweight fabrics that washed well and were value for money. Practical garments, bought and worn by the average housewife or worker, cheap enough to treat themselves with but pretty enough to give the wearer a lift at the end of a tiring day. Her nightgowns adorned the clotheslines of many of the good women of Forks, La Push, Port Angeles, even Seattle and were sold further afar by department stores who needed the gap between cheap and cheerful, and downright expensive, filled.

Her bridal undergarments were stocked and sold by exclusive bridal stores but the turnover these days was slower and so her finances relied on the cheaper garments.

"Ooh la la," said her main designer, Alice, as she walked in and saw the nightgown. "If I were twenty years younger, I would be smuggling that out of here in my handbag. That is beautiful, Bella. Is it a custom order?"

"Just a whim," admitted Bella, standing beside her sister-in-law and openly admiring her own work. True, most of the beauty lay in the fabric but she had recognised the need to keep the style simple and let the piece speak for itself.

"I can imagine some eager groom buying that for his bride, it's perfect, not overly sexy or too chaste, it hits the spot. Some bride is going to blush and wear that to bed for their first real night together. Oh to be a fly on the wall."

The first buyer through the door saw the nightgown and immediately demanded he be allowed to purchase it with the usual order of cheaper items. Bella was not sure she wanted it sold in a department store so she told him it was already spoken for.

"Make more, I could move a hundred of those a month, in some cheaper material."

Bella sighed, he missed the point completely. It was not meant to be some cheap item made by the dozen. It was a one off and it should go to some home where the love between the couple would be reflected by him buying her this single beautiful garment.

It was a celebration of love that would last a lifetime, not a nightgown to be hurriedly discarded on the floor of some motel.

The other buyers all wanted it but in the end, Bella carefully packed it in a presentation box and sent it on approval with the wedding panties, to her favorite bridal store. She missed it's presence and never tried to replicate it, it was truly a one off.

Up until ten years ago, she made bridal gowns and her pride in seeing the photos of pretty brides in her creations had always warmed her heart and made her happy to have been part of their special day.

Nowadays, not so many couples chose to marry and they often wore far less formal dresses, so it had not been economical to keep making them, and she had been forced to change with the times and adapt as the world adapted along with her.

Most women wore nightgowns on some occasions at least, they were in constant demand, and many wanted something nicer than the cheap cotton garments in the lower end range in the local store so hers were always quick sellers.

Alice was clever with her pencil and she drew up deceptively easy to make designs that took little more fabric than a plainer style and her creations caught the eye of women even bent on something cheaper.

They were pretty enough to be worth the few extra bucks.

Bella took some of these nightgowns home for herself and Edward had always found them appealing, of course, not as appealing as the expensive lingerie he used to buy her during the early years of their marriage. He was a man of fine taste and he had always liked her to wear quality clothing, even the sexy little numbers he handed over on their first ten or so anniversaries had always been classy and perfectly sewn.

Time and children changed that, Bella was used to gifts of jewellery for special anniversaries and birthdays and always something thoughtful on the others. Some pretty vase she had admired, maybe a new painting if something caught his eye on his trips away for work, he was always thinking of her and buying her pretty things, but pretty things changed over the years from intensely personal to more general.

Those were the days, the happy, early, stress free, impulsive, days when there were no children tying them down and demanding they plan far ahead before anything 'spontaneous' could occur, like a rare weekend away. Bella used to love those, the short trips into the country to stay in some beautiful old inn, with big old fashioned beds and open fireplaces and she and Edward had made love in front of the glowing light the fire shed. They had spent their honeymoon there and returned every year at first.

In fact, their first daughter was conceived on just such an anniversary holiday. They hadn't been trying seriously, and were still at the 'will we/ won't we' stage, wondering if they really wanted to give up what they shared in exchange for a small version of themselves crying in a crib and demanding they share their attention with a third person.

However, she had taken that decision away and announced notice of her soon to occur arrival when Bella started feeling queasy just a few weeks later. She was followed by her brother then a sister, and Bella and Edward had enjoyed parenthood, but now the house was empty again, the halls no longer echoing with childish glee or teenage angst or giggling girls come to see their son.

He was as handsome as his father so he had no lack of admiring girlfriends over the years and they had been happy to see him finally choose and settle down to marry, as his sister's had done before him.

Bella had felt the loss as each of her chicks left to attend college, then welcomed them home again while they searched for that first job that would begin their careers, and finally the day they announced their engagements and left to live in their own homes and she cried at the weddings, just because that's what we mother's do. We love to see them happy and grown up and moved on, but we still miss that chubby little baby who needed us in the night to feed and comfort them all those years ago.

The arrangement of roses that arrived at work revealed Edward had remembered, as always, and she took them into her office and found a vase for them. They filled the room with their magical aroma and reminded her of his love.

She was surprised to find a special delivery letter waiting on her desk, Alice had signed for it.

Bella opened it and found a note from her husband, written in his beautiful copperplate writing.

_I will be picking you up after work, we are going away to the inn where we spent our honeymoon and our first few anniversaries. It's our time, again, Bella. I love you. _

Alice pushed her out the door when he arrived way earlier than the shop closed, and assured her she could handle things for one day.

Edward drove them along the familiar road, singing quietly to her as they went, and she lay her head back against the seat and shut her eyes, recalling how he had done this the last time they went to the Inn.

He parked outside their 'usual' room of old and opened the door, taking their small bag inside and dropping it beside the bed which was as large and comfy as she remembered.

He smiled and held his arms open to take her inside them and held her with love and care as he had these past thirty years.

Bella kissed him and drew out the watch she had bought him and had engraved with the same message that was written inside their wedding bands.

_Edward~ Forever my love~Bella_

He thanked her and put it onto his wrist and then handed over his own gift.

Bella gasped as she opened the wrapping paper and saw the familiar box inside. She opened the lid and the beautiful lace nightgown she had created herself was once more in her hands.

"Edward, this is for some beautiful young thing in love."

"That's the way I will always see you, my Bella. I knew it was made for you the moment I saw it in the shop. Please put it on for me."

His eyes glowed with love and he pulled her in close and slid his hands inside the fabric that scarcely covered her bottom.

"Perfect," he murmured, kissing her throat as his body showed it still loved and wanted her, and she sighed with happiness.


End file.
